Israel doesn't want to topple Hamas, just rein it in

If the major forces of Sunni Islam in the region act as responsible adults, there is still a chance that Gaza will not see a reprise of Operation Cast Lead, an experience whose scars Gaza Strip residents still bear four years later.

The four-way meeting underway in Cairo provides the next exit point, perhaps the most significant, before operation Pillar of Defense spills over into a difficult ground campaign inside the Gaza Strip. The presidents of Egypt and Turkey and the emir of Qatar (who is not part of the Muslim Brotherhood but maintains close ties with the organization) are apparently expected to exert pressure on Khaled Meshal, the...

It''s plain to see our objectives here, 1. deplete & destroy Hamas's
inventory of rockets. 2. demonstrate that we have the ability to
obliterate Hamas if that becomes inevitable. And 3. Prove to Hamas that
no Islamic country can or will send troops to Gaza to fight us, despite
the "Arab Spring". Sympathy? yes, Money? maybe, Troops? Sorry
guys, no way................

One assumption after another. Stick to the facts. Yes, Gazans are
suffering but their leaders do not show a weariness for war. Even
during quiet times rockets land in Israel every day. Hamas will never
stop the aggression as long as Iran's knee is in its back.

I agree, Israel's goal is not to topple Hamas nor reoccupy the Gaza
strip. Judging by Israel's actions over the past 30 years the goal is
to simply annex Gaza and then the West Bank. Israel has never shown any
serious interest in peace as is easily demonstrated by the steady
expansion of settlements. Now Israel just needs a way to get rid of
these pesky Palestinians. And please note that I and many Americans are
not anti-Semitic, just anti far right hetro orthodox Israel.

As an american my eyes have been open for years now. I canot understand
our support for israel and the actions it takes. I have come to the
view that isreal's actions cannot be supported in good concious. I
believe that normalizing relations with Iran and leaving israel to it's
own devices is the smartest and most consistant "human
rights" position we could take. Isreal's leaders have led their
country over a cliff and I pray americans to educate themselves and
force a mirror in the faces of isreali people.

Bibi wants to win the coming elections on the sorrows of the families of
dead Israeli soldiers and Palestinian civilians. Instead of winning
elections on the basis of negotiating our conflict with the
Palestinians, Bibi wants to win by fear mongering and war. Truly, when
crooks run out of solutions, they resort to fear mongering and
unnecessary wars to control the masses. In this case, the Israeli
public. I think our Israeli culture has become a culture of Death,
just like the culture of the Palestinians. We produce leaders like Bibi
and the Palestinians produce leaders like Hamas. Can't Israel produce
good leaders any more with a vision of a better future for our nation?

He asked them to by sending Israeli ground forces into Gaza to on 24th
October and 8th November and then calling in air strikes - and then
waves of air strikes including targeted assassinations of Hamas leaders
who were willing to restore the ceasefire through Egyptian brokerage if
the air strikes stopped. Hamas forces arrest other groups at gunpoint if
they fire missiles during ceasefires.

Very hard to get rid of Hamas without reoccupation of the strip, Hamas
as a government and Hamas as terrorist organization. It is possible to
run terror organizations, shadow governments from the shadows. But as a
real Government that is not possible to do it from hiding.

"As of last night, since the start of the operation more than 40
Palestinians have been killed and more than 300 wounded. Most of those
killed were members of terror organizations." It's a never ending
source of amazement to rational persons that military actions
tradiionally result only in the deaths of enemy fighters. Who makes
this determination? What representative of the attackers has immediate
access to bombed out buildings in enemy territory, toting up the numbers
of dead and smartly recording their names and their previous military
and/or political affiliations? It increasingly appears that in Gaza, as
throughout the middle east, the quickest way to become a terrorist is by
posthumous designation originating from those who carried out the
killing.

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